When we seek indefinite life, what is it that we are fundamentally seeking to preserve? I begin by observing that I perceive the world as myself – Gennady Stolyarov II – and not as any other person. That is,while I may be able to envision another person’s perspective, I cannot directly

assume another person’s physical sensations and thoughts; I cannot become another person. At the same time,

my own sensations and thoughts, as I experience them directly, are what

constitute my being, or – since “being” is too general a term – my “I-ness”.

Consider what would happen if a scientist discovered a way

to reconstruct, atom by atom, an identical copy of my body, with all of its